(Bloomberg) — Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to an active shooting at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, according to authorities.
Citing police, CNN reported that the alleged shooter was dead.
Michigan State Police said the incident happened Thursday at 5725 Walnut Lake Road and asked members of the community to stay away from the area so officers could respond. The soldiers also increased the number of patrols at other places of prayer in the district as a precaution.
FBI Director Kash Patel told X that agency personnel are also on the scene responding to “an apparent vehicle crash and active shooter situation.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said security personnel at the synagogue saw the individual and exchanged gunfire.
By mid-afternoon, officers from several agencies surrounded the facility, with medics and tactical teams on the scene. It remained “very, very early,” Bouchard said, describing the information as preliminary. Investigators were working to determine if more than one person was involved and were trying to obtain surveillance video from the area.
Authorities ordered residents within at least a mile radius to shelter in place while officers searched the large campus and surrounding grounds to ensure there was no ongoing threat.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit said it was aware of an “active security incident” at the synagogue — which bills itself as the nation’s largest Reform synagogue — and that its affiliated agencies were on “precautionary lockdown.” The Ann Arbor Police Department said it is increasing patrols “out of an abundance of caution” and that there is “no known threat” to its community.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer described the news as “heartbreaking” and said the state’s Jewish community should be “able to live and practice their faith in peace.”
Law enforcement agencies in the US have been on high alert for potential attacks since late last month after the US and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran.
(Update with Whitmer’s statement in the penultimate paragraph.)
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